


Over the Edge

by NicolaDarkness



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dominant/Submissive dynamics, F/F, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mermaids, No Smut, Rating for a little violence, Supernatural Elements, merman au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-14
Updated: 2016-02-14
Packaged: 2018-05-20 14:20:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6010831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NicolaDarkness/pseuds/NicolaDarkness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The only thing people knew about the abyss, is that once you go in, you never come out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Over the Edge

Jean knew he was well and truly fucked when he felt a rush of ice hit his back, then wrap around the rest of his form. He instantly curled in on himself to shield his major organs from the cold while his eyes darted round the ever darkening water around him.

He knew he shouldn’t have taken that bastard Eren’s dare to see who could go closest to the drop-off of the reef. But Mikasa had been there and watching him, so he couldn’t show himself up. Thinking about it now as he dropped deeper into the ocean, doing a stupid stunt like this just to impress a girl who clearly had zero interest in him from the get-go was beyond stupid.

 The two boys had been getting closer and closer to the edge as they argued. Now usually it didn’t escalate to actual violence, as the boys had been friends long enough to know when to stop. Now he wasn’t sure who it was who through the first punch, but the scrap had ended in blood in the water and Jean being thrown off the edge. From the pain rocketing down his spine, and his inability to swim, it could only mean that his dorsal fin had been cut open, judging from the blood in the water.

He shivered at the cold as dark spots started to float about his vision. Damn it. He really didn’t need to pass out right now.

He twisted his head to see how far he was from the rock face, but to his mounting panic it was several meters away, far out of reach. There was no way he could swim with just his arms to reach it and by the cold feeling sinking into his bones, he wouldn’t be able to climb back up even if he did.

As the dread of his situation set in, all he could think to do was to curl into a tighter ball to keep warm. Even if it caused a shot of blinding pain to shoot through his ribs and down his spine. Preservation of organs came first. He knew how to think logically even in situations like this, though most wouldn’t know it. This was because no one seemed too able to look past his blunt personality and quick temper.

He let out another soft whimper as his vision started to blur and colours danced behind his eyelids, which he couldn’t recall closing. He hurt so much. His entire body was throbbing with pain, although the numbness creeping in from his limbs was both a relief and a worry. Though he couldn’t remember why. Everything was fuzzy inside his head, like those funny looking corals that clustered on the rock faces near the edge of the drop-off.

It hurt too much to think. He couldn’t move and everything was going black. Sleeping felt like a really nice idea right now.

Yeah. He could sleep for maybe a year or more.

Then when he woke up he would be warm and cosy in his reef cave. Yeah. Nice and warm.

Sleep was always warm...

He didn’t think he was making much sense anymore.

But as his consciousness faded he was sure he felt a pair of rough hands wrap around his waist. But it must have been a dream. He would wake up in his nest soon enough then he could hit Eren for being a dick even in his own dreams.

Yeah. His nest was warm. So warm.

 

* * *

 

 

As the fog slowly lifted from his fuzzy head, Jean snuggled deeper in his warm kelp nest. Though as he slowly allowed himself to wake he frown at the ach in his dorsal fin and ribs. And then there was the smell. He couldn’t really describe the scent as anything but a bit musky with a hint of what reminded him of ship wreckages that were found along some places close to the reef that he used to sneak out to when he was younger. Overall the smell was pleasant, but why did his kelp smell like that? It didn’t usually.

Then again, his kelp wasn’t usually this heavy. Although he was still nicely warm, the weight of the mesh of plant life was significantly more and it was putting pressure on the parts of his torso that were tender. Although the tightness that surrounded the sore parts of his body was knew. Come to think of it now that he was more awake, he could feel the sensation of a different kind of textured plant wrapped tightly around his back and chest. Although he was still able to breathe relatively easily so the plants weren’t covering his gill slits on either side of his torso.

Jean cracked his eyes open slowly, blinking out the crust that almost glued his lids shut so that he could adjust to the dim light. Blinking a few more times and lifting a hand up to his face to rub the last of the sleep out of him, the young male was unaware of his surroundings. His sleepy brain not resisting them as unfamiliar. It was probably the delicious smelling kelp nest he was lying in that was at fault for making him feel so safe and content.

Slowly with clear eyes Jean observed his surroundings, though it took a moment for him to realise that he didn’t recognise any of it. And cue panic.

The cave he was in was larger than his small almost burrow back at the reef. This room was a large globe shape with a small point leading off to what Jean assumed was the door. Strung up along the top of the cave were small glowing orbs of light that were string together with a sturdy looking kelp rope. Jean had to admit that he was in awe of the sheer amount of different colours that the glowing stones were. The room didn’t have much else in it besides the large elevated nest Jean currently occupied. It was at least twice the size of his own and made of a different, darker kind of kelp that was surprisingly soft and woven together with thinner plant matter to attach the multiple layers together. The blanket that was covering was made of the same dark plants that had been woven into a large single layer that was big enough that it hung off the edges of the nest.

In his panic Jean pushed himself up into a sitting position. This was a bad idea, as pain sliced through his dorsal fin and ribs like a spear and he let out a sharp cry. He then curled in on himself, holding his ribs which he could see were covered with some light coloured plant strips to form bandages. The pain was so much that he didn’t hear his voice bounce and echo through the cave, thus alerting the owner to Jean’s distress.

But Jean did notice when he heard a small crash before the sound of rapid after movement that alerted to the entrance of the house owner barrelling through the door in his own panic, concern and fear clear on his expression. Wide eyes flickering about the room for a threat before settling on Jean himself. And the two males locked eyes.

As the newly arrived male calmed his erratic breathing, after finding that there was no danger present, Jean took his opportunity to examine the other male.

The first and most obvious feature was just the male’s pure size (which explained why the nest was so big), especially in the length of his tail. It was probably twice the size of all of Jean and that was before it reached the unknown males torso! The tail was speckled with white spots, which ironically mirrored the dark freckles which scattered across the upper part of the male’s body. It also seemed to have what Jean could only express as fur lining it (like what he’d seen on the four legged furry things that humans had with them sometimes) which then continued up along the ridge of the other boys back and into his fluffy black hair. The other males torso was also larger than Jeans, with the muscles of his arms, chest and back built up, but not overly so, with six sets of gills fluttering around his ribs.

Then there was the males face. It was were the most freckles were located, over the bridge of his small nose and rounded cheeks. His small ears almost vanished into his shoulder length black hair that framed his face and strong jaw. His lips looked soft as his mouth slowly closed after he finished taking calming breaths, his teeth not discernible. And those eyes, they had to be the darkest Jean had ever seen. Barely any white of the eye visible and a pupil so dilated that his eyes were two black shiny pits (although Jean did learn that the boys eyes were always like this, not that Jean was complaining).

So overall, Jean concluded that although the unknown person was massive, and a little strange looking, he was actually quite pleasant on the eyes. And Jean fought down the heat that threatened to burst across his cheeks, sending up a silent thank you to the gods that his tail was covered so that his flash of colour wouldn’t be noticed (he was never good at controlling his how his tail flashed colour) and berated himself for finding a male attractive.  He got enough shit as it was for being a seahorse without having to add liking other males to the mix.

Jean’s tail which had coiled round a lump of bed material in the panic relaxed slightly. Jean always hated his tail for its bland colours (the natural ones) which matched his two toned hair, with his belly scales leading down in a dark brown stripe to the tip (matching the shaved part of his hair), while the rest was a dirty blond colour the same as the longer hair on his head.

Although the relief of the unknown male’s concerned response rather than an aggressive one had calmed Jean out of the shock of the meeting the larger merman he was hit with another wave of pain shooting through his back and ribs. He grit his teeth to muffle a moan of pain resulting in a soft hiss of bubbles escaping from between his teeth.

“Are you alright?” A deep voice asked in such a worried tone that Jean was sure that his tail flashed again, and something inside him melted at the larger male’s open display of concern.

_Now here is a little tid-bit to know about merfolk, that although most like to breed within their sub-species (as in the marine creature which they resemble) it’s not unusual for couples to form made from two different sub-species. But not only this, although there were separations of genders in the traditional ‘human sense’ the breeding was divided into dominant and submissive, regardless of gender. Dominant merfolk are able to fertilise any gender while submissive are able to be fertilised regardless of their gender. Although let it be noted that dominant females have a harder time impregnating submissive and male submissives found it harder to become pregnant. And merfolk usually presented the traits of their specific orientation while going through puberty._

Jean could tell that the male in front of him was defiantly a dominant by the utterly delectable smell filtering to Jean from across the expanse of space between them, and from the smell of the nest he had wrap himself in now that he was conscious enough to tell. So Jean’s inner submissive was _keening_ at the show of gentle attention and affection (much to his annoyance).

After all, Jean was not fond of his orientation as it only made the teasing he got for his own sub-species worse. Mostly because male submissives of his subspecies were built to carry children, so it was one of the few that found conception and pregnancy easier than most. And Jean hated it. The horse jokes he could handle, but the pregnancy and sexual innuendo always made his temper flair.

And since Jean presented he had done nothing but threaten and beat up all the dominants that even came close to him. Not to mention the amount of disgusting male dominants that chased after his tail and spat dirty words at him who were looking for someone to fuck and toss aside. Thankfully the only thing he got from the dominants he grew up with was the same teasing as everyone else who knew him from a pup much to Jean’s relief. Though he would never admit as much.

Jean let out a soft whimper much to his mortification, his eyes widening at the sound. His eyes flew up to lock with the larger male to see if the freckled man had noticed the noise. He had.

The freckled male was suddenly moving forward in a determined yet non-threatening manner, his large tail coiled close as he moved in a way to make himself appear smaller. It still didn’t take him long to reach Jeans side, leaving a respectable space between them as he bowed his head in a submissive posture and a worried frown on his face.

The posturing was so shocking that Jean momentarily forgot he was in pain. No dominant had ever been remotely cautious around Jean. It came with his personality that he was a sharp and blunt person, so it was pretty much impossible for anyone who saw him to be unassertive. Needless to say Jean had never had someone show any care to not frighten him through submissive posture and show him kindness.

The freckled male peered down at the unwinding kelp wrapping round Jean’s ribs and saw a faint brown blood stain seeping through. This caused the dominant to make a soft noise of surprise and concern in his throat, his deep black eyes shooting up to lock with Jean’s that were peering down at him in shock.

“Your wounds opened up again. I’m going to have to put more medicine on it and wrap it again. Is that ok?” The unknown male asked.

Jean was reeling again. The freckled male asked him. _Asked_ Jean if he could help him. By the Gods who was this man. Jean had never been so flabbergasted, flustered and yet utterly flattered in his entire life. But he found himself nodding his head at the other male’s request.

At the conformation the freckled man moved away to a small check kept in the corner of the room and after spending a few moments rummaging through it for a few moments, closed it and turned back round carrying a small jar in one hand and a roll of kelp in the other. He then approached a still startled Jean in the same submissive manner and settled down on his nest a little closer than before, placing the two items on the bedding in the space between them.

“I’m going to unwrap the bandages from around you, and that will mean touching you. Is that ok?” The dominant asked, looking up at Jean with worry.

Jean gulped and swallowed loudly. He pulled the kelp cover closer to hide more of his tail so that the constant flashing wouldn’t be noticed. He would be mortified if the other male knew how his kindness was effecting him. So Jean nodded slowly, his brow furrowing in slight apprehension. He then held still and allowed the other male to get to work cleaning and re-dressing his injuries.

The smaller male hadn’t noticed his other wounds until he looked down to carefully watch what the freckled merman was doing. His torso was covered in dark bruises and several deep cuts coiled around his hips where his hips stuck out and his skin blended into his tail’s dull colouring.

The first tug at the kelp around his ribs caused a soft whimper to escape and the larger male to freeze and glance up. Jean just nodded and allowed the other male to peal the bandages away, although with a more gentle touch, and his eyes glancing up to look at Jeans face every few seconds to check for signs of pain.

Once the kelp was off the freckle man reached out slowly for the tub of ointment and unscrewed the cap. He dipped two fingers in it and scooped up the thick black substance and looked back up at Jean. He must have seen his nose crinkle in disgust at the dark looking goo because the other male pulled back a little and started talking.

“It’s medicine. I know it looks like mud but it’s made out of plants found on the crevasse edges, and their not so bright in colour so that’s why it looks kinda gross. But its good stuff! It helped me a lot see!” The freckled male said in a calming tone, and gestured at his torso at the end.

It drew Jeans eyes down to the large scar across his right arm and torso. It looked old. But when it muscle underneath flexed there was no restriction in the movement. So if he used the black goo on that, Jean guessed he could let it be put on his wounds. And he looked back up into those deep black pools and nodded his consent again.

With the same gentle touch he used to take off the bandages, the speckled male applied the cool substance to the large gash that spread across from Jean’s ribs and up through his dorsal fin. The Fin had been cut so deep that it had had to be stitched back together and Jean could feel the small tug as the ointment spread around where they held his skin together. He also didn’t realise how hot his injuries were until he had to bite his lip to keep a moan of relief from escaping him at the soothing touch.

The spotted male then covered the bandages carefully around Jean’s torso while the smaller male was still relaxing into the cooling sensation. The larger then picked up the jar again and began to apply more of the black substance to the smaller cuts and bruises but then left them to dry in the open water.

One finished the freckled man retreated back to put the medical equipment back in the trunk before turning back to look at Jean. The smaller male was finally relaxing back in the nest and blinking out of his relaxed stupor. Once realising he was being looked at he pulled up the plant blanket closer over his chest to cover his now constantly flashing tail, although the blush on his face was still on show.

Without Jean’s noticed the other male had disposed of the blooded bandages in a basket next to the trunk and now his tail was twitching, still coiled submissively close in a nervous fashion. The freckled then scratched the hair at the back of his head glancing around the room before settling his dark gaze back on the skinner seahorse.

“Well I bet you’re a bit confused now right?” The dark haired male said with a soft smile.

Jean nodded, with a confused frown. He remembered the fight with Eren, though he had no idea what it was about. He remembered pain. Lots of pain. And being cold. So cold. And he couldn’t move. And then he drew a blank.

“Well I found you floating down from the reef bleeding out so I took you home before any scavengers could find you. And I stitched you up. Your fin is pretty damaged so I’m not sure how long it will take to heal.” The freckled merman explained, a sad tone at the end of his voice as he watched Jean’s face pale.

“S-so I may n-never swim again...” Jean whispered in a hurt voice.

Suddenly there was a gentle hand on his cheek which startled Jean into looking up and was met with twin dark pools oozing concern. The larger male had coiled his large tail around the edge of the nest in a warm but cautious embrace. And Jean felt himself relaxing and the fuzz in his ears clearing slightly.

“I’m sure you can re-learn how don’t worry. I will help you all I can.” The larger male smiled softly. “I’ve helped you this much, I can see you all the way till you’re fully healed.”

Jean felt his pointed ears turn read and looked down as he nodded eyes fixing on the other males scared shoulder in order to regain some of his lost composure. Although he supposed he hadn’t shown much of it since meeting the stranger.

“I’m Marco by the way.” The dark eyed male said with a light bashful laugh.

Jean lucked up at the cheerful black pools and felt his own lips twitch up into a semblance of a small smile himself.

“I’m Jean.”

 

* * *

 

 

Jean learned a lot about Marco as he recovered. The main thing being that the seahorse was not looking forward to when he had to finally leave and go home. He liked Marco too much.

The large freckled male was easy to talk to and was always smiling at one way or another. Jean had never known it was possible to smile so many ways, but Marco proved him wrong. A talent that the dominant tended to excel at.

Such as how the lower abyss was actually full of life and colour. Marco told him were to find the best glowing rocks and showed him a map were he could find a few when we was finally healed. And Marco seemed to know just about every merman down in the darkness and during the months Jean took to recover there wasn’t a day that went by that someone didn’t knock on the cave door to speak to the freckled man. Especially an equally as speckled female called Ymir who seemed to be Marco’s sister, who always was dragged in reluctantly by one of the most beautiful females Jean had ever seen. A light haired submissive called Krista who didn’t so much have a tail, but a large expanse of transparent blue skin which hid several thin tentacles. (Marco later told him that Krista may look harmless, but that her tentacles were highly venomous, but that both he and Ymir were immune to because they grew up with her).

Another assumption Jean had made was that he was going to be super cold while he stayed here. But after several days of a consistently warm cave he had asked Marco. The larger male had told him that the cave was near a set of hydrothermal vents that gave off immense heat that funnelled through small cracks in the cave walls and kept the home at a comfortable temperature. These vents were located a few feet down on the sea bed (Marco’s home was located in the walls of the steep undersea mountain face that made up the drop off point which Jean fell over) and Marco told him excitedly of stories of when he was a pup and him and his sister used to play at who could get close enough. Though they never actually got close enough to breath in the scolding and poisonous gases that rushed out of them in the form of what looked like black smog.

It had been four months since Jean first woke up in an unknown place and he was finally able to swim properly, much to Jean’s disappointment. It meant that he would have to go back to the reef and leave Marco. Jean was not looking forward to saying goodbye to the giant affectionate dragonfish. Not only that but he was defiantly not looking forward to his mom’s reaction, she was going to kill him. The best he could hope for was a house arrest, although that sounded worse. Because even though he knew going home meant leaving Marco, a small part of Jean was determined to visit him as often as he can. He could no longer imagine living his life without Marco being part of it.

Jean knew that he would miss Marco. Terribly so. And for the last week he had been feigning feeling ill so he could stay longer. After all, even if he wanted to keep staying with Marco didn’t mean that the freckled male wanted to keep seeing Jean. The seahorse hoped that Marco was at least put up with him being ‘fake ill’ for a while because he was just too nice to kick him out.

Currently the speckled male was outside talking to his sister and sister-in-law. He had been doing that several times a day now for the last week, and Jean was getting really curious. He had met them both before, and may even be friends with Krista while maybe being seen as none-threatening at least by Ymir. So why they insisted on talking outside was a worry to Jean. So, being the nosey bastard he was he decided to sneak out of the room and hide round the corner to ease-drop on the conversation.

“This has gone on long enough Marco, he has to go.” Ymir’s gruff voice echoed in an exasperated tone.

“He’s still sick. He’s not ready to go back yet.” That was Marco’s solemn voice, sounding as if he didn’t believe his own words. 

“He will only get hurt if he stays, you know that. He’s not like us.” Ymir insists and Jean can imagine the exasperated look on her face and feels him own start to pale.

“You don’t know that…” Jean barely catch Marco’s mumbled response.

“For Trident’s sake Marco! The damn horse face needs to go!” The female alpha finally snapped.

Jean heard Krista’s soft soothing voice calming her mate down as Jean turned and dived back into the bedroom and buried himself in the nest that felt more like home than the small hole he grew up in. He had found a new home. One that smelt like warmth, comfort and Marco. Jean wasn’t stupid. And certainly wasn’t in that bad a denial. He had fallen for the deep sea fish and fallen hard.

He felt tears well up in his eyes. He knew that he had to leave now, and the realization hit him hard. He burrowed in, getting as much of the blankets as he could before finally letting the small little balls of sadness fall from his eyes and hide under the nest, hopefully where Marco wouldn’t check. It look a lot for his species to cry, after all, crying was a waste of resources and energy and was usually only done at funerals and during weddings as well as proposals. All the emotions locked in small luminescent pearls.

Jean truly let himself break down. And for a moment let all the crashing emotions inside of him spill out into a physical form. Just this once letting himself really express his emotions to the world. Even if no one would know for a while, or ever if Jean is optimistic.

After a while, he isn’t sure how long, the pearls stop falling and he shuffles the kelp around to cover the evidence and re-arranging himself into his previous position and listens to Marco’s distant rumble. Which after a moment stopped with the small whooshing sound of the kelp door swinging shut.

Jean tensed and allowed his eyes to train on the opening as Marco seemed to drag himself into the room. At first the alpha male didn’t seem to notice the pair of golden eyes trained on him and his ever present smile was absent for once, the light in his eyes dim with sadness.

But it didn’t take long for the dark haired merman to find Jean’s eyes. Once realising he was being looked at he started a little, before allowing his signature soft smile to fall onto his face. Although to Jean’s eyes the slight upturn of lips looked tense and forced, showing that the larger male was hiding his emotions he had so freely displayed earlier.

“Hey,” Marco breaths softly and makes his way over to perch gingerly on the edge of the nest, a respectable distance away. Sometimes Jean cursed how much of a gentlemen the freckled male was. And how did he even get freckles from leaving all the way down here anyway. The mystery continues.

“Feeling better?” the larger asked, placing a large warm hand genially on Jean’s forehead and the smaller had to bite down on the keening noise threatening to escape.

 “Yeah.” Jean breaths, subconsciously leaning into the dominant males touched. Which reminded him, he had skipped his heat cycle because of the injury (it was every three months for all submissives) so his next one should be coming up again rather soon now that he was back to full health.

The idea of spending his heat locked up with Marco instead of spending it suffering alone. But he quickly discarded that thought as the conversation he overheard earlier played in his head. Along with the miserable expression on Marco’s face when he thought Jean hadn’t been looking.

“I think whatever bug I got has passed now.” Jean said, sitting up and allowing Marco’s hand to fall away from his face.

“That’s great!” Marco said, his smile seeming more genuine for a moment, then dimming slightly. “Guess that means you’ll be heading home then.” The larger male said sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck in a nervous gesture.

“Yeah I’d better. Mom’s gonna have been worrying herself into an early grave.” Jean replied, subconsciously mirroring Marco’s habit that he had picked up after living with the dominant for so long.

“Right. Well it’s too late out to head off now, so you can stay one more night if you want. I’ve already started making us dinner so at the least stay for that.” Marco said with a disarmingly sweet smile as he raised himself up to head out to the kitchen.

“I could stay the night.” Jean said and smiling softly at Marco who was paused at the door, waiting for Jean to finish speaking. “And anyway, I was hoping you could come with me part way. If you want that is. I don’t really know the way back so…”

“Of course.” Marco said, his smile beaming out and turning fully back to Jean. “I don’t mind at all. It will be fun. Like a road trip or something. And it’s been so long since I’ve been that close to the surface, it will be nice to see the sun again.”

Jean matched Marco’s smile as he got up to help the other male with the cooking, listening to him chatter on about how excited he was to be taking the small trip. How he wanted to see the sun he loved so much again.

Jean couldn’t help the dark thoughts that raged through his head as he watched Marco bustle about.

_You are my sun Marco and I would love nothing more than to stay close to your light forever…_

 

* * *

 

 

The next day Jean tried to smile for Marco, he really did. The large merman practically dragged Jean out the house at the crack of dawn (not that light reached this deep) because Marco wanted to make it up there at midday so that he could really see the sun. Jean dragged himself along, although he was mostly being dragged by the chattering dominant in front of him.

And at the pace they were going they would certainly reach the ‘light-zone’ while the sun was at its brightest. The pace was too quick for Jean, his chest heaving and muscles aching. But he couldn’t complain, not when Marco was radiating happiness right in front of him. He had realised a while ago that he would go through any amount of pain if it was for Marco.

Soon enough they could see the light starting to clear the foggy blackness that surrounded them and the glimmering light above them started to brighten as they swam further up towards the surface. Jean blinked his eyes constantly as Marco sped up, biting hi lip at the twinges of pain caused from the sight of bright sunlight after four months in nothing but dim coloured light from glow crystals.

Finally after keeping his eyes shut he felt Marco slow to a stop. He could see colours dance behind his eyelids and very slowly opened his eyes, still blinking to try and adjust back to bright light. And after a moment he looked over at Marco and his heart nearly stopped.

Marco was floating in the light, his freckles sparkling with his eyes shut seeming to bask in the light. His large, long black tail swayed softly below him to keep his body still, the flecks of silver glimmering down into the darkness below them. He was breath taking. Beautiful. Other worldly. Jean had never been as in love with Marco as he was in that moment. Well it was soon topped by the dominant opening his eyes and fixing them on Jean. The larger merman’s face full of joy and wonder.

By the Gods the dark haired male was going to give Jean a heart attack from his smiles alone one of these days.

“Don’t worry so much, we’re nearly to the top.” Marco said, though his smile was slightly sadder than before.

Jean nodded and let the other male continue pulling them along in their assent up the wall of the crevice.  Eventually they got only a few meters below the top. The sound of children’s high pitched laughter filtering down from the top. The two males stopped and Marco put his hand onto the wall to cling to while also pulling Jean closer to it.

“Think you can make the last bit yourself?” the larger asked, giving Jean an encouraging smile.

“You’re not coming with me?” Jean asked, his voice raising higher in slight panic, eyes widening.

“Jean…” Marco said with a soft sigh. “I can’t, just look at me.”

And Jean’s eyes followed the sweeping motion of his hand, eyeing his soft fur (which he later learned were spines when he tried to touch them and Marco had gotten upset and told him not to touch) and his large speckled tail. The flashes of colour over the dark scales and the spines flexed slightly and his size.

Oh. Now he could see it. Marco couldn’t come up because he would scare everyone.

Jean panicked.

“No.” the smaller stated clutching tightly at Marcos more toned arm. “I-I’ll explain that y-you saved me. I-it’ll be fine. Really. Mom would love you. I mean she’s protective so she would glare first. But if we explain then she’ll come to l-love you. Everyone will. Because you’re Marco and-and…”

Jean’s eye flickered over every part of Marco’s face as he rambled. Trying to get him to not leave. To stay. He had never rambled this much in his life. He felt more scared then he had ever been. Even when he thought he was going to die, the moment Marco had found him, was nothing like the icy fear that encased his chest in this moment.

Marco’s face contorted into first shock, then pain then finally settled into determination. He gently put his hands on Jean’s shoulders and it finally stopped the two-toned haired male’s mouth from rambling and focused his eyes to stare into Marco’s. In that moment the dominant made a decision and he would be damned if he went back on it.

Suddenly Jean was frozen as it seemed pressure surrounded him as he stared into Marco’s dark eyes which were cold in a way he had never seen them before. Jean knew what this was, though he had never been on the receiving end of it before, and he had never dreamed of having Marco do it to him. It was a pheromone that dominants could release in order to get a submissive to obey them. It overrides the submissives brain and made their body follow the dominant merfolk’s order regardless of what the submissive wanted.

Jean’s eyes widened and he started to tremble. Marco’s pheromones smelt so good, although Marco always smelt good but this was something else. Although it for once didn’t make Jean feel any better, it made him shake in fear.

“Jean,” Marco said in a deep voice. “I’m doing this for your own good. Remember that.” He then took a deep breath and slowly let go of the submissive’s shoulders, allowing his freckled arms to hang by his sides “Now go up to the top. Go back to the reef. Go back to your mom’s house and don’t you dare look back.”

And as he finished Jean let out a sob. His body trembled for a moment as he fought against his body, but then he started moving up, but kept his eyes on Marco for as long as he could as he swam upward, seeing Marco watching him go. Eventually the darkness encased the other’s form and Jean let out another broken sob, tucking his head down into his chest.

He didn’t look at his surroundings as his body continued to swim, picking up the pace. He vaguely registered voices shouting at him. Strangers telling him to stop rushing and to get out the way. He thought he hear Eren calling his name in a voice mixed with shock and rage. But he didn’t stop, not until he ran into a soft, warm and familiar body.

Then he wrapped his arms around it and buried his face into the female’s chest and broke down fully. He couldn’t hear the exact words that the older female said, only that they were comforting, or trying to be. But Jean still felt lost, still felt cold, even when he was finally back in the arms of his mother. Even if a part of him was happy to see her again, he still felt wrong, like a part of him was missing, like it was wrong to be in the arms of someone else.

He missed the feeling of Marco’s arms.

 

* * *

 

 

The next four weeks were agony for Jean. His mother had literally locked him in his room for a week because he kept trying to swim off the edge to try and get back to Marco. It was only after the first week that he calmed enough to tell his mother the full story. She had held him and shushed him as the memories he talked about made him break into tears again.

Only after another week did he tell his mom to let his friends see him. Eren was the first. He walked in one night and had apologised to Jean. Which creeped the other out. But Eren really seemed sorry and honestly Jean didn’t care all that much and waved him off. Then the idiot started asking Jean questions about the abyss and the seahorse and coldly told him to shut his trap and get out.

It took another two weeks till Jean was able to go outside. Although he mostly went out in the evening, so he could avoid most of the people. He spoke to his friends in passing, although they were a bit weary around him now. Eren must have told them to be careful round him.

It didn’t help the Jean had skipped his heat again, much to his mother’s worry.

Jean really had just given up at this point. His mother had spoken about going to see a doctor to get help. She said he was depressed. Jean knew she was right about that. But he didn’t want help. He didn’t need help. It was none of their business. Thankfully his mother had been sworn to secrecy about Marco and he had told no one else what had happened. Needless to say he was still the subject of choice for gossipers all over the reef.

He had become some-what nocturnal because of this so when he was woken up by his mother shaking him and loud voices from outside the house he was a bit confused.

“There’s a deep sea alpha outside Jean.” His mother said with wide eyes. “The town guard has been called.”

The hope in his chest at the information was shot down by fear. It might be Marco. If it was Marco the guard would kill him and ask questions later. The bigoted bastards.

Jean was out the door before his mother could get another word out. He swam as fast as he could towards a crowd of screaming people. And the first thing he saw was the transparent tentacles and his hart both sank, because these were his friends, but swelled that it wasn’t Marco.

“Krista!” Jean shouted as he pushed forward.

“Jean! Thank Poseidon we found you!” The submissive said, pulling on her angry mate’s arm to get her attention as well.

“Why? What’s wrong? What are you guys doing here?” Jean asked rapid fire.

“My brother that’s what.” Ymir huffed, pulling her mate back into her chest with a growl. Jean knew the sound was directed more at the scared and angry crowed then at him.

“What happened? What’s wrong with him? Where is he?” Jean demanded in a low tone. Gods he sounded possessive even to his own ears.

“Jean!” Another voice broke through my focus and a hand pulled me back. Ymir tensed up and pulled her mate behind him. “What is going on?”

“Mom.” Jean turned to give his mother a stern look, one stat said back down now and his mother looked a bit shocked at his forwardness. “This is Ymir, Marco’s sister and her mate Krista.”

His mother’s eyes seemed to widen, mouth forming a small ‘o’ shape and she relaxed a fraction. She sent a small smile over to the two girls and nodded her head in a respectful manner.

“Nice to meet you both. I’m Jean’s mother.” She said and Jean relaxed. His mother may be a dominant, but she would still do anything if it meant her son was happy.

“Now back on topic.” Jean said, turning back to the two females. “What’s going on?”

“I’m not going to lie,” Ymir started although Krista gave her mate a dark look, but the dragonfish continued. “He’s done nothing but mope about since you left. Hasn’t been himself. The brats even got into fights. He’s been seeking out ferals to fight. We tried to talk some sense into him, but he won’t listen to us. We need you to talk to him. Please.”

“But…” Jean started and felt himself deflate. “I’m sorry but I can’t do that.”

“Why not!” Krista said in a sharp voice, worry crowding her face.

“Because he forced me to come back here. And you said so yourself that I couldn’t say.” Jean said, curling in on himself slightly.

“Damn eavesdropping horse.” Ymir mumbled but shut up when her mate jabbed her in the ribs.

“It’s not that Marco didn’t want you to stay Jean.” Krista explained in a soothing voice. “He just didn’t want to hurt you.”

And it was in that moment Jean’s emotions did a 180. He was mad. How dare they suggest Marco cared when the freckled male had forced him to go away? There was no way Marco could or would hurt him. Not physically at least, emotionally it was too late for that. He hadn’t even told his mother about Marco dominating him, but he was to mad to care who knew. He was just so tired of it all. He just wanted to curl up in his nest and sleep forever.

“Well too late for that!” Jean snapped. He had had enough. “He made it pretty clear he wanted me gone after he used dominating pheromones to make me leave!”

The silence following Jean’s confession was deafening. Everyone looked at him in horror. He couldn’t take it. So he did what he did best. He ran away from his problems and didn’t look back. Like the day he had his first heat. Like the day he first had a fight with Eren. Just like Marco told him to.

He felt the cold hit him before he realised where he was swimming to. He heard Ymir and Krista calling him but their voices faded behind him. He didn’t care. He just wanted to get away. He didn’t care about danger or anything about that. He just wanted to go home.

 He felt the darkness surround him as he slowed his decent, allowing his eyes to adjust to the dark which they did rather quickly. He never could look at sunlight the same, it hurt too much these days. He kept the descending rock face to his left and kept swimming down so that he wouldn’t get lost. It was so quiet and cold down here.

But soon he stopped to catch his breath and looked around properly only to freeze when he saw several pairs of white eyes staring at him. Shit. He was so dead.

The ferals were merfolk who had consumed the flesh of humans, or other merfolk and had reverted back to rabid predators. They had no sense of self, only sense of pack. They wouldn’t hesitate to kill anyone that crossed their path, in some instances raping their victims as they consumed them. There was no reasoning with them.

And now Jean was literally stuck between a rock and a hard place.

His tail flashed rapidly, the multitude of colours designed to confuse potential threats when he was scared. But in the dark waters it just made him easier to spot. Like a giant glowing sign saying eat me. And Jean couldn’t stop himself from pushing back into the rock and letting out a whimper. He just prayed to the Gods that they would just eat him, and that they didn’t want to ‘play’ with him first.

Then they started snarling and growling, slowly creepy closer, there skeleton like bodies slinking closer and Jean couldn’t do anything. Then suddenly the closest lunged at him and he shifted down so that it rammed into the rock now above him, although it did graze his cheek where he could feel blood seeping out. And things went from bad to worse. The blood in the water was the last straw and all the ferals roared and rushed in, minds rabid in the mind-set of a feeding frenzy.

He was dead. There was no stopping ferals once they got into a frenzy.

He let out a sob, a single amber pearl falling from his eye. He squeezed his eyes shut and curled into himself, ready for the assault. But it never came, instead there was a deafeningly low roar. Then there was screams of agony, rage and the feeling of warm liquid swirling in the water around Jean, the smell of iron almost making him gag. But soon enough there was silence. And Jean slowly opened his eyes.

His heart stopped he was sure of it.

He was still flashing sharp white through his tail in angry lines that reminded Jean of lightening. The blood swirled in the water around him, seeping from his hands, which had morphed into long claws and his soft fur was stood on and, and for the first time Jean really believed that they were poisonous spines. Then there was the feral snarl on his freckled face, blood rushing from multiple sharp rows of dagger like teeth. And finally his eyes, which glowed as red as any blood in the water, so deep Jean felt like he was being swallowed when they finally turned from the corpses which were slowly sinking towards the dark bottom.

Then he was being pressed into the rock against his own will, a larger and warmer body pressing him into. And finally, for the first time in a month the cold was gone.

His arms were pinned above his head by one sharp clawed hand while its twin gripped his chin and tilted his face to the side, carefully as not to slice him apart. Then the scent fully hit Jean and he couldn’t stop a soft moan escaping him, oh how he missed Marco’s strong musky scent. He’d be damned if he ever let himself go so long without it again.

A low rumble which vibrated from the broader chest into Jean’s was his only response as Marco seemed to examine the small cut on his cheek with harsh eyes. Then Jean gasped at the feeling of a warm soft tongue licking the wound and surprisingly he felt the cut stop bleeding. Then after a moment Marco pulled away just enough to meet Jean’s eyes again, releasing his face and letting the hand move to stroke his sides in a soothing manner.

“Shuuuush, Jean.” Marco cooed, rubbing his scent gland against Jean’s (which Jean both mentally screamed it in both surprise and joy, after all scent marking was something that only mated pairs did), “I got you, I got you.”

“Don’t.” Jean sobbed, leaning into the touch and wrapping his hands which had been release once his wound was clean, into Marco’s dark locks. “Don’t you dare make me go away again! You hear!”

“Never.” Marco breathed leaning in and pressing their lips together in a soft kiss as his long spiny tail wrapped around Jean’s encasing the submissive fully in his warmth.

 

* * *

 

 

It had been another month since the ‘incident’ and things seemed to have finally settled down. Of course after Ymir had chewed her brother a new one for being so stupid and reckless not to mention a dick. The freckled male had apologies profusely, after coming back to himself after her dragged Jean back to his cave and the two had fallen asleep. Which is the way the two females had found them a few hours later.

Then the girls had given the two some privacy to talk. Marco had explained about him fearing that his spines would hurt Jean after a stuttered love confession that made Jean’s cheeks and ears burn. This found not to be a problem because somehow Jean was immune to the venom in Marco’s spines. Not that Jean was too surprised, he had been playing with them while Marco was asleep, not that he told the other male this.

Then Jean had given his response and the two had kissed and cuddled some more before going back to business. They discussed sleeping arrangements and of course the meet-the-parents which in this case meant Marco meeting Jean’s mom. The dragonfish was not keen on this but Jean wouldn’t back down.

Which lead to an interesting conversation the next day when the two males had sheepishly met Jean’s mother at the edge of the drop off with matching bandages on their necks. It went better then Jean thought it would. Marco had only received three cracked ribs and a bruised jaw for his trouble, and the alpha seahorse had agreed that the two could live together, as long as both of them would come to have dinner with her every so often. Needless to say Jean was ecstatic.

So it wasn’t really too surprising that soon Marco got to see the merman that fought with Jean all the time. And when Marco first met Eren he was pleasant enough, at least he thought so but the look on the green eyed merman’s face said he found him far too scary and had run or the coral as soon as Marco turned his attention on Jean. The seahorse still wouldn’t stop teasing the other submissive about it. Marco had managed to pull out of Jean that apparently when he was wary of a person his teeth and spines stood out, especially when people got to close to Jean. But the seahorse reassured that he found the actions endearing enough.

To sum everything up, the two had been mated and happily living in the abyss for six months now. Although Marco wasn’t sure about how often seahorses went into heat, he was at the point of asking Jean about it when the submissive came back from visiting his mother for the day. Marco was anxious because he knew that stress stopped heats and he worried that living so deep was stressing his mate out to much.

It was a few hours later that Jean arrived and Marco met him at the front of their home. Jean seemed slightly startled to suddenly be met with his mate so close, but it slowly turned into a bashfully sweet smile.

“Hey freckles.” The golden eyed merman said with a soft giggle. “Gonna let me in?”

“Oh right sorry.” Marco replied rubbing his head sheepishly before taking his mates hand and leading him to their nest to relax.

But as Marco tugged on Jean’s hand to pull him down to him, the smaller male shook him off. Marco was instantly panicked although a soft chuckle and a shake of Jean’s head calmed him a little, his mate wasn’t rejecting him but apparently showing him something as he reached into the bag slung across his hip to pull out something that made Marco’s heart stop.

Jean’s face was read as a lobster, all the way up to his ears and ever spreading down his chest, his tail flashing in embarrassment as he held out the item for Marco to inspect. Although he never dropped the serene and slightly excited smile on his face.

Marco took the object with one hand and used the other hand to pull Jean into his chest and the happiness bubbled over them causing the both of them to laugh. Curled up together they both cuddled up to each other and gave each other excited and loving kisses.

The small blanket covered in pictures of seahorses and dragon fish pressed between them. And Marco had his answer.

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!  
> Hope you enjoyed! ♥
> 
> (many thanks and a thousand cakes to my best friend Kathryn who beta's this for me. I love you forever!)
> 
> Reference images for Marco I used:  
> http://i.livescience.com/images/i/000/063/265/iFF/pachystomias-microdon.jpg?1393946319
> 
> http://i.imgur.com/H9Flg.jpg
> 
> http://270c81.medialib.glogster.com/media/09/096b833c0602e5889a39029813d3c39053a364f5fa28321ecbc6434e92933239/fish-jpg.jpg


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